Figure skating videos…

I mentioned in my article on Olympic figure skating (which you can find here) that skating exhibitions can be more fun to watch than competitions: less pressure, more emotion, and more time for appreciation instead of having to hurry to the next element to rack up the points — and besides, we don’t all enjoy watching people fall (though I know some of you out there do — roomie, I’m looking at you). I make no promises regarding the quality of these performances from a technical standpoint except to note that these are all top skaters; these are merely the ones that struck me, a relatively uninformed viewer, for one reason or another. And with that, I present for your viewing pleasure a selection of my favorite skating videos on Youtube.

Johnny Weir, Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face,” 2010 US Nationals – If you haven’t seen this yet, you’ve been living under a rock. This is the performance that we’ll be missing at the Olympic gala with Weir’s sixth place finish, and it also epitomizes the reasons people find him alternately fascinating and controversial — his vivid personality on full display.

Evgeni Plushenko, Tom Jones and Mousse T’s “Sex Bomb,” 2001 Worlds(?) – Plushenko may be keeping himself busy being a poor sport these days, but he does put on a good show (for some definitions of good, at any rate). Watch this video — you may find the experience hilarious or horrifying, but either way it will be memorable. (I hear some people are holding out for a reprise of this program at the Olympic gala.)

Evgeni Plushenko, Britney Spears’ “Oops, I Did It Again” (unknown remix?), Russian TV – There is no explanation for this. It will haunt you, waking and sleeping.

Alexei Yagudin, Ronan Hardiman’s “Overcome,” 2002 Olympics – The title of this video is actually “Jedi Master Alexei Yagudin.” Think about that one.

Yu-Na Kim, Mandy Moore’s “Only Hope,” 2008 Words – Moving past the farcical we have this, wherein Kim looks marvelously light and graceful skating to music that, in my opinion, suits her well. Skating — above and beyond the lovely things figure skaters learn to do — seems to hold a certain inherent grace in that long glide across the ice, and it takes an exhibition like this to have the unhurried pace to appreciate it.

Stéphane Lambiel, Gavin DeGraw’s “I Don’t Want to Be,” 2006 Worlds – Last but not least, my favorite of all of these. This is Lambiel right after winning his second world championship, and I’ve never seen any other skater look so happy just to be on the ice. Here he is skating wholeheartedly, with the audience responding in kind; and when the music goes, “I don’t want to be / anything other than what I’ve been trying to be lately,” I believe it utterly.